LCP, DepEd sign MOA for school building design

Department of Education Secretary Armin Luistro in an ocular inspection of a public school room in Alaminos City. At the left side is Alaminos Mayor Nani Braganza

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How Philippine public officials rob the coffer (Part II)

by Mortz C. Ortigoza Here’s what I told Senator Migz Zubiri in a press conference I attended recently: “I talked with a mayor-contractor who told me that the infamous pork- barrel should be directly given by the President (Benigno AquinoIII) to the mayors. Kasi sabi niya iyong pork, kukurakutin lang ni congressman iyong 25%, ika-cut pa ni DBM (Department of Budget & Management) ang 2% (kung mabilisan iyong bigayan ay 5% ang ika-cut nila), kukunin pa ni DPWH iyong 5%. Pero pag i-direct kay mayor, iyong kurakot sa kanya lang .” ...

Why Towns Want to be a City?

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Woe to the cities all over the country. 
With the latest decision of a flipped flopping Supreme Court on its third reversals of its decisions, the petition of 16 towns for city hood is almost a certainty.

The downside however is that the present 122-strong members’ League of Cities of the Philippines would see a reduction of their share of their Internal Revenue Allotments from the national government.

Cities like Alaminos, Urdaneta, San Carlos, and Dagupan would lose tens of millions of national funding a year that mostly comes from the share in the Value Added Tax .

But the hardest to be hit among them would be Dagupan City.

Members of the 122-strong League of Cities of the Philippines were furious recently after the Supreme Court upheld for the third time the bid of 16 towns to be a city

Why the Philippines should go nuclear?

It is high time for our country to have enough cheap power supply. It is high time for our country to go nuclear.

Our notoriously world-class prohibitive price of electricity does not only discourage foreign investors to put shop here, but even punishes you (yes, you drooling reader) and me.

Just take for instance a poultry product.

A chicken raiser has to buy a day old chick for P25 to P38 for him to take care for months before he sells it to the market.

This is expensive compared to other countries where poultry raisers enjoy government subsidy and tax exemption.

This is expensive in the Philippine because an egg is heated through an electric consuming powered incubator.

Consequently, a kilo of dressed chicken in the market today cost P120 while a smuggled one cost P80 only.

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The Philippines is number 6 in the world with the most expensive electricity, thus a significant portion of the income of the majority Filipino households goes to their power bill.
The reason for this is that although we consume only 40 percent of the power produced by Napocor (that supervised those Independent Power Producers (IPPs) like SRMD), we are obliged to pay the 60 percent power surplus.
Congress should amend this stupid contract concluded by our government with the IPPs years ago...